News from the Department of Medical Education

The Department of Medical Education (DME) reports a busy start to the year, with students engaged in clinical placements, interprofessional learning and research. DME has launched flexible postgraduate and professional development programmes in clinical education and leadership, and introduced a dual intake in the B.Med.Sci. Graduate research continues to grow. A new shared office space supports connection and collaboration. Staff are invited to contribute to teaching, assessment and scholarship.

Pictured: Professor Anna Ryan, Head of the Department of Medical Education

Our students and staff have met the challenges of another busy start to the year with energy and enthusiasm. 1,426 medical students commenced on‑campus teaching and clinical placements in late January, with teaching, research and student‑led initiatives well underway.

First‑year students engaged in a cultural immersion, being guided by First Nations tutors on the Billibellary Walk and experienced their first general practice and hospital placement days. Second‑year students have transitioned to full‑time clinical school‑based learning and many are engaging with Discovery subjects such as Death and Dying and Hearing Impairment. Third‑year students are progressing through specialty health rotations that reinforce care across the lifespan — from assisting with deliveries to immunising elderly patients on GP rotations. These activities support our commitment to producing practice‑ready, community‑focused graduates.

Our MD4 cohort embraced interprofessional practice and advocacy through hands‑on workshops with physiotherapy and optometry students, exploring systems thinking to tackle complex healthcare challenges. MD4 students have also launched a diverse portfolio of research projects — from laboratory science to narrative medicine — supervised by clinicians across Melbourne Medical School and partner institutes. These projects producing rich and rewarding learning experiences.

We are grateful to clinical partners and supervisors who enable students to engage with patient care opportunities in clinical settings. Your supervision is central to developing competent and compassionate clinicians.

The Department has also launched the latest round of professional development and postgraduate offerings in clinical education, clinical research and health leadership. Our programmes are flexible and practice‑oriented, enabling clinicians at all career stages to apply new skills immediately and expand professional networks.

Collaboration with the broader Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (MDHS) on clinical educator skills development continues. The Graduate Certificate in Clinical Education has welcomed eight candidates sponsored by the MDHS Academy of Clinical Education (ACE). Melbourne ACE has also sponsored 90 Royal Melbourne Hospital clinicians across medicine, nursing and speech pathology to undertake our revised Clinical Supervision Online short course— designed for current and aspiring clinical supervisors supporting students and trainees.

We are particularly proud of the Melbourne Medical School collaboration that delivered the inaugural Graduate Certificate in Health Leadership course, led by Dr Vinita Rane. The first delivery featured insights from Professor Geoff McColl (President, Australian Medical Council), Dr Katharine See (Chief Health Outcomes Officer and Director of Respiratory Medicine, Northern Health), and senior finance leaders from Northern Health. The course attracted a diverse cohort and sparked practical discussion on translating leadership into system improvements.

2026 is the first year of dual intakes (January and July) into our Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons) programme. We are currently hosting 33 medical and dental students from Universitas Indonesia and Universitas Airlangga. Following their research year, these students return to Indonesia to complete clinical training, and we hope many will return for postgraduate research opportunities as clinician‑scientists.

Graduate research supported by DME continues to flourish. Candidate projects span medical and allied health professions and the humanities, supervised Melbourne Medical School paediatrics, geriatrics, anaesthesia, critical care and surgical education. Candidates benefit from tailored Health Professions Education PhD modules, and our weekly Research and Scholarship Roundtable, which fosters collegial feedback and scholarly development.

We welcome contributions from staff across Melbourne Medical School — supervising MD, BMedSci(Hons) or Master of Clinical Research projects, presenting at the Roundtable, or participating in DME workshops and postgraduate programmes. We also seek assessors for clinical examinations, and for staff involvement at our student conference - if you would like to be involved, please don’t hesitate to reach out.  And when you’re in clinical settings, please do look out for students, welcome and include them, and take the time to share your expertise. What seems to you like a tiny acknowledgement or simple tip can make a lasting impact on our students.

I would like to acknowledge the exceptional academic and professional staff of DME. Their expertise and commitment is critical to our shared purpose - advancing patient care by educating outstanding doctors, empowering health professionals and driving scholarship in health professions education.

Finally, we have a new home: all main‑campus staff are now based on Level 4 North in the medical building. The shared area has enhanced connection and corridor conversations, and provides hot desks to welcome clinical school colleagues and visitors — please pop by to say hello.